What MAGA gets painfully wrong about US military strength

After President Donald Trump's return to the White House, him and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed to purge the U.S. Armed Forces of "wokeness." Hegseth often uses the term "warrior ethos," which he views as the opposite of a "woke" military. And with Trump having started a war with Iran, Hegseth continues to use his "warrior ethos" rhetoric.

However, historian/writer Myke Cole, in an article published by Slate on April 13, argues that MAGA Republicans fail to understand what the military's greatest strengths are.

According to Cole — himself a veteran — the military's "real warrior ethos" has a "sober maturity" and is "judicious," not boastful, when "deadly force" is necessary.

"Humble, quiet, just doing a job — quiet professionals understand that violence is risky and costly, and use it only as a last resort," Cole explains. "Bragging, threatening, and posturing are all frowned upon. The merits of this culture are obvious. It is designed to weed out the insecure and trigger-happy, the reckless hotheads with something to prove. This culture is at the heart of a competent military, and indeed is essential to the morale and cohesion that makes the American Armed Forces the envy of the world."

Cole continues, "Voices from across the military tout humble, dignified professionalism as essential to morale and project confidence from leadership down through the ranks. That morale and confidence are critical to operational performance. That's why it is particularly concerning to see the current leadership throwing these ideas in the trash."

The Trump Administration, Cole laments, has "replaced" the military's "quiet professional" with the "saber-rattling bully."

"Our armed forces are now helmed by a secretary of defense whose ideology has directly framed American military power in the term of a 'crusade,'" Cole warns. "He exemplifies this ethos with his pride in his Jerusalem cross tattoo, and his tattoo of the Latin Deus Vult ('God wills it'), both symbols of Crusader power that have no place in our military. This is coupled with Trump's promises to 'bomb them into the Stone Ages, where they belong,' and otherwise threatening to target civilian infrastructure even though such strikes could be construed as war crimes."

Cole adds, "Trump's juvenile, trollish renaming of the Department of Defense to the Department of War is the icing on this self-conscious cake. Or, it would be if we didn't have so many cringe-inducing comments from Hegseth, such as: 'maximum lethality, not tepid legality.'"

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